Without Remus
by Sin Of Regret
Summary: How is Lupin able to see Harry under the Cloak in Third Year on the Map when Death could not see Ignotus? Did the Marauder's really create an object that can cheat death? This oneshot explores a timeline in which Lupin was not present in the Shrieking Shack to control Sirius' behavior. Created for a school assignment, first HP fic!


Hello friends! This is a school assignment in which I had to write a fan fiction. There are two sections of quotes from the Potter books to frame the story, and a third section where I write in my own work where **Black** is bolded and the quotes from the story end. I do not own Harry Potter.

**An Excerpt taken from **_**Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban**_**:**

"Harry didn't know what to think. Was it a trick?

"If you haven't been helping him," he said, with a furious glance at Black, "how did you know he was here?"

"The map," said Lupin. "The Marauder's Map. I was in my office examining it -"

"You know how to work it?" Harry said suspiciously.

"Of course I know how to work it," said Lupin, waving his hand impatiently. "I helped write it. I'm Moony - that was my friends' nickname for me at school."

"You wrote -?"

"The important thing is, I was watching it carefully this evening, because I had an idea that you, Ron, and Hermione might try and sneak out of the castle to visit Hagrid before his hippogriff was executed. And I was right, wasn't I."

He had started to pace up and down, looking at them. Little patches of dust rose at his feet.

"You might have been wearing your father's old cloak, Harry-"

"How d'you know about the cloak?"

"The number of times I saw James disappearing under it...," said Lupin, waving an impatient hand again. "The point is, even if you're wearing an Invisibility Cloak, you still show up on the Marauder's Map. I watched you cross the grounds and enter Hagrid's hut. Twenty minutes later, you left Hagrid, and set off back toward the castle. But you were now accompanied by somebody else."

**An excerpt taken from **_**Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows**_

"And Death spoke to them. He was angry that he had been cheated out of the three new victims, for travelers usually drowned in the river. But Death was cunning. He pretended to congratulate the three brothers upon their magic, and said that each had earned a prize for having been clever enough to evade him..."

"…And then Death asked the third and youngest brother what he would like. The youngest brother was the humblest and also the wisest of the brothers, and he did not trust Death. So he asked for something that would enable him to go forth from that place without being followed by Death. And Death, most unwillingly, handed over his own Cloak of Invisibility…"

"…But though Death searched for the third brother for many years, he was never able to find him. It was only when he had attained a great age that the youngest brother finally took off the Cloak of Invisibility and gave it to his son. And the he greeted Death as an old friend, and went with him gladly, and, equals, they departed this life."

**Story Start**

"Harry stared down at Black and Crookshanks, his grip tightening on the wand. So what if he had to kill the cat too? It was in league with Black... If it was prepared to die trying to protect Black, that wasn't Harry's business... If Black wanted to save it, that only proved he cared more for Crookshanks than for Harry's parents...

Harry raised the wand. Now was the moment to do it. Now was the moment to avenge his mother and father. He was going to kill Black. He had to kill Black. This was his chance...

The seconds lengthened. And still Harry stood frozen there, wand poised, Black staring up at him, Crookshanks on his chest. Ron's ragged breathing came from near the bed; Hermione was quite silent.

And then came a new sound –"

**Black's** laughter bubbled and suddenly sprang forth from his chest. It seemed as though he hadn't used it in decades, or had forgotten how, with how hard and cold it sounded. Hermione shuddered. Harry unconsciously took a step back. As he quieted, Black's face transformed into a grimace and he sat up, sending Crookshanks lightly to the floor.

"Do you think I've come all this way to be offed by my best friend's son? By my own godson?" Black spat.

"Don't say that as if you have some connection to me!" Harry retorted. "You did this, you killed my mum and dad without a thought, and now you're here to kill me too, is that it?"

"You need to listen to what I'm saying, Harry!" Black slammed his palm to the floor. "You don't know half of what you're talking about, and my patience is running out." He leapt to his feet and strode straight over to Hermione. Before anyone could react, Black wrenched the two wands from her grasp.

Harry started to yell out an Expelliarmus, but Black quickly deflected it with ease. Harry's wand flew across the room. Ron could do nothing but gape.

"I have half a mind to not explain anything to you kids, and I won't until I've done what I'm truly here to do. But I know you especially will regret not understanding the truth, Harry," Black sighed. He rubbed the back of his neck and then tiredly ran his hand through his oily hair. "Will you let me try to set things right?"

"I don't want to listen to a word you have to say, especially while you have two wands and we're completely defenseless," Harry said with a nod towards Ron and Hermione. "Let us go. Someone will realize we're missing soon."

"I only need a moment," came the cold reply. It was all Hermione could do to keep up with this man's raging emotions.

"Ahem, uhm, Mr…Black…what exactly is it that you want?" she asked quietly, and winced when he turned his slightly manic gaze towards her.

There was a long pause. Black considered Hermione for a moment and then turned his head slowly to stare at Ron who was still seated on the dusty floor.

"Him."

"Me?" came Ron's bewildered reply at the same time that Harry half-shouted "Him?"

As though he had privately made up his mind, Black gingerly crept across the room towards Ron. He walked cautiously, as if afraid to upset the floorboards; along the way he summoned Harry's wand and stowed it in his grungy robes. A hungry look appeared in his eyes, one that Harry was able to catch. Without thinking, Harry threw himself between his friend and the criminal; he was surprised to find Hermione right next to him.

"You won't get a step closer to him," Harry warned Black. Hermione nodded resolutely.

"I don't need your friend, if that's what you're thinking. It's the rat I'm after," came Black's dry retort at their bravery.

"You want _Scabbers_?" Ron gasped. He placed his hands over the left-hand side of his school robe protectively. Harry and Hermione shared a confused look.

"He's no ordinary rat. He's an Animagus like me, and he's also a spineless, good-for-nothing traitor who doesn't deserve to live any longer! Now hand Peter over!" Black snarled. He had pocketed one of the wands he was holding and now maintained a firm grip on the one in his hand.

"Scabbers has been with my family for a decade! He's my bloody pet! Are you trying to get me to believe that he's actually a person? You're bloody mental you are!" Ron yelled back.

"Peter?" Hermione gasped. "You think Scabbers is Peter Pettigrew!"

"Yeah, that's all right and well, great story, but do you remember that you're the one who slaughtered Pettigrew and all those Muggles twelve bloody years ago? He's dead," Harry sneered. Black did not seem to take in any of this, never shifting his eyes from somewhere near Ron's shoulder.

"I'll explain it all to you after I've seen to my job. Give me the rat! Now!" When Ron remained frozen on the floor, Black made a sound of disgust. Flicking his wand and muttering a spell, Harry and Hermione were sent sprawling to the floor with ropes around their midsections. Black spat out a second spell that had Scabbers floating to his outstretched hand. The rat was convulsing and squeaking incessantly; Black's fist tightened around the rat menacingly.

"Scabbers! Let him go!" Ron yelled. Hermione and Harry struggled against their bindings. Black paid them no mind, his attention focused entirely on the rat.

"It's been too long, _Wormtail_," Black hissed. "Been enjoying your time sleeping in this boy's bed for a decade? Surely it must have been better than rotting your life away in Azkaban. Maybe you'd like to know just how much I suffered knowing I didn't end your miserable existence the last time I saw you." The rat began to struggle harder, its eyes rolling in its head. "Maybe you'd like to see how I take revenge for killing my best friends? To put you through the same agony Lily and James felt before your master murdered them? Yes, I think that's what we'll do, Peter. You need to realize the destruction you've caused, and I need to kill you now."

The students could only watch as Scabbers became more and more frantic in his efforts to escape Black's grasp, while Black just squeezed the rat's frail body harder. Ron was yelling and trying to stand on his broken leg to help his pet. Harry was torn between finding a means to escape his bindings and thinking of ways to apprehend Black, while Hermione was furiously attempting to piece together Black's story with so little information to go by.

Black raised a wand and began to snarl out a deadly spell while holding up the squealing rat. Ron yelled out his pet's name a final time, and suddenly, several things happened at once.

Scabbers bit down hard on Black's fingers as he was raised in the air. Cursing and reflexively pressing his bleeding fingers to his mouth, Black lost a proper grip on the rat and dropped him straight to the wooden floor. Seeing a chance at freedom, Scabbers bolted across the room towards the open door as Black fired immobilizing spells left and right. Just as he was nearing the entryway, Crookshanks leapt lightly down from the positon he had taken up on the bed and pounced directly onto Scabbers, crushing several bones. Scabbers screamed as only a rat can.

Before anyone in the room had time to react, Crookshanks had taken Scabbers into his mouth and bitten down hard enough to kill the rat instantly. Ron let out a horrified yelp and Hermione turned to look away as the rat was torn up and devoured in front of their eyes. When he was finished with his meal, Crookshanks began to clean himself as if he had done nothing wrong and eventually stalked back to the bed to watch the events unfold.

There was a prolonged period of silence throughout the Shrieking Shack, as if no one could quite believe what had just happened to the longtime Weasley pet. Finally, Black started giggling. His bark-like, manic laughter grew and grew until he was gasping for breath and doubled over. Harry, Ron and Hermione dared not speak nor interrupt.

"I never imagined it would happen like this," came Black's hoarse assessment of the situation as he straightened and appraised the pale teenagers with a large smile. It was as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders and he was now several years younger. "I daydreamed for twelve years about killing Pettigrew for what he had done, and never once did I imagine that someone else would get there before me to finally snuff him. Honestly, I'm just glad that little rat is finally dead and gone. Now I can finally explain this entire situation to you, Harry, and to you, Ron," Black said apologetically. "Don't say anything, just listen, and maybe you can forgive me for this entire mess I've caused you three tonight."

Turning around, Black Vanished the bindings from Hermione and Harry's persons, and threw back the wands he had pocketed. Clearing his throat, he readied himself for a long story by propping himself against the wall to face the teenagers with his back to the door and crossing his arms.

"Now, you're armed and I'm not, but I'm hoping you'll hear me out about this," Black told them. Hermione wondered if this was an order or a request; Ron just stared blankly ahead. "The best way to start is to go back to when I was a Hogwarts student. Harry, you already know some of the details. I was very good friends with your father, your current Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, and Peter Pettigrew. What is not public knowledge is that three of us were secret Animagi—"

"My dad was an Animagus?" Harry finally cut in. "What sort of animal—"

"That isn't important, Harry! I want to know why my rat was killed!" Harry looked over at Ron and blushed. The shack seemed to groan and creak anxiously.

"Your father was a stag, Harry; I am obviously a dog, and Peter was able to transform as well…into a rat. The perfect form for a traitor," Black glowered. "To make a long story short, when Voldemort started going after your parents during the first war, Dumbledore arranged for them to go into hiding. He used a powerful charm that allowed them to remain hidden to everyone but the Secret Keeper of their location. Everyone assumed that I would have this role; no one knew that I arranged for Peter to be the Secret Keeper. It was the perfect plan. But I as good as killed Lily and James by not knowing that Peter, the _traitor_, was working for Voldemort the entire time! He told Voldemort their location, and when I went to track Peter down to make him pay for what he had done, he cut off his bloody finger, transformed into his rat form and blew up the street! That's why I was locked away in Azkaban for twelve bloody—"

The floorboards creaked louder than ever. A black form swept into the room and cast a quick body-bind; Black fell to the floor with a look of surprise on his gaunt face. Hermione screamed.

"A touching story, surely," Snape sneered. "But shouldn't you three know better than to listen to the words of a wanted murderer?"

"Professor Snape!" Hermione gasped. "However did you know we were here?"

Snape arched an eyebrow at her and rolled his eyes. "While helping Professor Lupin with a little…problem tonight I came across a rather interesting bit of parchment left open on his desk. Imagine my surprise to see that it provided the whereabouts of any person located within the Hogwarts grounds. Once I located Sirius Black's name with you three, out of bounds with a convicted murderer, I knew I would have to come haul you incompetent fools back to the castle and take the mutt to the Dementors. You three are already facing a suspension, so I demand that you come with me at once! We'll see what the Headmaster has to say about this. No. Arguments. Potter."

Still in shock from the information they had learned and the recent turn of events, Harry and Hermione nodded tiredly and followed behind Professor Snape as he levitated both Ron and Black up to the castle.

One hour later, in spite of their protests, Harry, Ron, and Hermione learned that Sirius Black was given the Dementor's Kiss at Minister Fudge's insistence. They would never be able to ascertain the truth between Black and Pettigrew.

The next school year, it was Lucius Malfoy who cut off his hand to aid in the resurrection of Lord Voldemort.


End file.
